Theophany

The work of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite stands at a cusp in the history of thought: it is at once Hellenic and Christian, classical and medieval, philosophical and theological. Unlike the predominantly theological or text-historical studies which constitute much of the scholarly literature on Dionysius, Theophany is completely philosophical in nature, placing Dionysius within the tradition of ancient Greek philosophy and emphasizing, in a positive light, his continuity with the non-Christian Neoplatonism of Plotinus and Proclus. Eric D. Perl offers clear expositions of the reasoning that underlies Neoplatonic philosophy and explains the argumentation that leads to and supports Neoplatonic doctrines. He includes extensive accounts of fundamental ideas in Plotinus and Proclus, as well as Dionysius himself, and provides an excellent philosophical defense of Neoplatonism in general.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Note on Translations

Abbreviations

Introduction

This book is the fruit of more than twelve years’ study and teaching of the
thought of Dionysius the Areopagite,¹ together with that of Plotinus and
Proclus, as philosophy: not, primarily, as a late antique cultural phenomenon;
nor as an influential episode in the history of Christian theology; nor as
“mysticism,” if that be taken to mean something other than philosophy; nor...

1. Beyond Being and Intelligibility

In recent decades there has been a surge of interest in “negative theology,”¹
of which Dionysius is a leading exponent, and hence many studies of this
feature of Dionysius’ thought.² Rarely, however, do such studies attempt to
present the philosophical argumentation that underlies his teachings. The
doctrine that God or the One, the first principle of reality, lies beyond being...

2. Being as Theophany

Dionysius frequently says that although God is not any being, he is the cause (αἰτία or αἴτιov) of all things (e.g. DN I.1, 588b; I.3, 589b; I.7, 596C; MTI.2, 1000B; IV, 1040D; V, 1048B), and as such can be named by all the names of all beings. “It is cause of all beings, but itself nothing, as transcending all things in a manner beyond being . . . But since . . . it is cause of all...

3. Goodness, Beauty, and Love

The dependence of the determined on its determination, and thus the dependence
of all beings on God, is understood in Neoplatonism not merely as
a static relation, but as a dynamic, though non-temporal, “motion” or “process.”¹ This is the cycle of remaining, procession, and reversion...

4. The Problem of Evil

Upon completing his account of God as Goodness, Beauty, and Love,
Dionysius immediately raises the inevitable question: “If the Beautiful and
Good is beloved and desired and cherished by all things . . . how does the
multitude of demons not desire the Beautiful and Good . . . and, in general,
what is evil, and whence does it originate, and in which of beings...

5. The Hierarchy of Being

In the Divine Names, Dionysius consistently presents the whole of reality as
a hierarchically ranked sequence, descending from angels, or pure intellects,
to inanimate beings. Although he applies his neologism...

6. The Continuum of Cognition

A sharp dichotomy and dualism between sense and intellect, as two different
cognitive faculties apprehending two different kinds of objects, is conventionally
regarded as perhaps the most fundamental feature of Platonic thought,
elaborated in Neoplatonism and adopted by Dionysius.

7. Symbolism

Since the symbols discussed by Dionysius, like the divine names, are
those found in the scriptures, an account of his theory of symbolism might
seem to belong to a study of his scriptural interpretation rather than to a
study of the specifically philosophical content of his thought. But in...

Conclusion

Here Dodds puts his finger on the operative principle of Proclus’ thought and
indeed of all Neoplatonism. But what he fails to realize is that the structure
of reality as understood by Neoplatonism matches not merely a culturally
and historically specific phenomenon called “Greek logic,” but the universal...

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